Losing weight

SapphireStar

SapphireStar

♥ FFF's Matt Bellamy Pervert ♥
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Okay I want to lose some weight. I cant afford to join a gym, so really the only exercise I get is walking to and from university some days. I have cut down on chocolate, no more microwaveable meals and no fizzy drinks, just the odd Dr Pepper.

However, I dont seem to be losing anything. Im not going to say how much I weight, but Im not large. Lets say I have some extra baggage. Im also on the Pill and was told Im 1 under my ideal bodymass, which has shook me up because when I was on it years ago I was fine. Yet my blood pressure is fine. That I dont get.

So has anyone got any senseible ideas for me? I cant even go jogging round here because Bradford is not the safest place or the friendlest! My family say Ive lost weight, but I cant see it. My boyfriend says skinny is overrated and happy the way I am, but I want to lose some weight :huh:
 
There are only two sensible ways to lose weight. Eat right, and exercise.

Don't diet. Diet's can, and almost always do, cause you to gain more weight once you are done than you had in the first place.

Here is how you should think of it. Your metabolism runs like a fire.

If you put all your wood on a fire in the morning, it blocks the air flow, and you barely get a fire. It may burn for awhile, but it won't be anything too fascinating. It's possible you might get a big burn in the beginning if you use the right wood (dry and dead) but soon it will be just little embers until it smothers itself. At the end of the day you will have large pieces, if not whole logs, still sitting in the fire pit, and maybe a few embers.

If you put all your wood into three large bundles, and throw them into the fire at three different times of the day, you'll have better results, but you'll still be suffocating the fire at those three intervals. You will basically have three big fires and then after awhile they would piddle out until you had a small fire, if not just embers. At the end of the day you will have probably burnt a good portion of the wood, but some will still remain. Unless it was a really windy day, and you had great airflow, and nice, dry wood, odds are there is still going to be some leftovers.

If you put your wood in a pile though, and throw in a little bit at a time all day long, the flames will have a chance to consume all the wood, but will still have enough energy to burn more wood just on it's embers alone. At no point in that day would your fire have been inconsistent in size. At the end of the day you would have only ashes leftover.

Now, if you think of the wood as being your food intake (and this was assuming you used "good wood" which would be the equivalent of healthy food, the size and ability to keep burning as your energy (or metabolism), and the wood leftover as stored fat, you kind of get an idea of where I'm going with this.

A healthy way to eat is to eat a little bit of healthy foods all day long. Maybe some carrots here, part of an apple there, a small piece of meat, maybe half a baked potato, etc. By constantly eating, you are also ensuring that your energy will not "spike". In other words, you won't have a burst of energy an hour after breakfast, and then be ready for bed by lunch. Also, if you feed your body healthy foods all day long then your body is constantly able to use up all of it's resources (which means very little, if any, stored fat) and not have to worry about getting more.

What I mean by that last sentence is that your body is a living thing, and does learn. If it knows that it only gets fed once a day, especially a small portion, it is going to start storing that food as fat so that it can use it later in case it doesn't get any more. It might seem strange, but by eating, say, a carrot, a cup of yogurt, and an apple for breakfast, and then not eating any more, you are going to get fatter. You're body isn't going to use that food properly; it's just going to store it as fat.

That's the basics of eating at least. It's gets more complicated, but that is enough to get you by.

Now, you have diet pills and the like. The way these work is essentially by throwing gasoline on your fire, or by giving your metabolism a quick jolt. They will typically give you a lot of energy right away, and help burn off the food you ate, but once they burn away, you get tired and your metabolism slows down very quickly. The more you take diet pills the more screwed up your body becomes. It no longer knows when it should be storing food as fat (sometimes this is a good thing), and it no longer knows how it should be using your metabolism to burn food and consume nutrients. It becomes confused and often the pills stop working.

Again, that was very basic, but still I think the point is coming across.

Finally comes in exercise. Exercise in any form, be it walking around the mall, jogging around the block, lifting weights, or even just walking out to your car, needs energy. This is the second place that your metabolism takes it's orders from. A combination of food intake and energy usage will give you your overall metabolism. So, even if you at right, but never moved, your body would still be storing that food as fat because it wouldn't need to use it.

On the other hand, if you eat very little and move around a lot, your body runs out of food. This causes a very strange, but also logical, reaction to take place. At first your body works normally, it burns off all the food you ate, and then when it runs out you become tired. But, the fact that it runs out "scares" your body in a way. Therefore, the next time you eat, it starts storing that food as fat again so it will have something to use when you push it to far. You will be tired even after eating, and will continue to gain weight.


Why do people "yo-yo" (lose weight when dieting, then gain more back when they've finished) when they diet then? The reason is simple. During dieting you are feeding your body small quantities of healthy foods, typically three to four times a day. Often this food is not enough to keep your metabolism going, especially if you are dieting and exercising. So, at first you start gaining weight. But after awhile your body has to start using that stored fat as energy in order to keep you moving. Once this happens, you start losing weight, and fast. Your body is confused and will often start burning everything you put in it as fast as it can.

This is what makes people keep on their diet. They find they have lots of energy, but are still losing weight. However, when they acquire their desired weight they HAVE to stop dieting or else they would keep losing and losing until they had nothing left to lose (skin and bones is often the reference to this). After they stop dieting, their body starts collecting fat again. It has just gone through a very rough period of not having enough nutrients to run properly, and is therefore piling EVERYTHING you eat on as fat in case this happens again.

So, after the diet they will gain and gain, and since there body is scared, it usually will not not burn as much energy as it did before the diet, so even more food is turning into fat. During this upward spiral, they often have little energy, and as a result, don't exercise properly anymore. A failed diet often leads to depression, depression weakens will power, then they start eating fatty foods because they often contain a stronger amount of chemicals that will essentially make you feel better, if not happy. That's another topic altogether though.

So, in conclusion, if you eat healthy (just about anything that can be found in nature), and exercise you will allow your body to run properly. When your body runs properly it isn't storing unneeded fat, and therefore you will drop down to your natural size, and most importantly, STAY THERE!

Your body has a natural size that it needs to maintain in order to work properly. This size is determined by the balance of energy used and food needed to supply that energy. Basically, your average professional football player is going to have a larger "natural" size than your typical computer hacker.

Both of them though, if they eat healthy and get a proper amount of exercise, will not only be healthy, but will look fit. Sure, the football player is going to look really muscular, while the hacker merely toned, but that is simply because that is what their body requires from them. If the hacker started playing football all the time, he would find that in order to feel normal he would need to eat more, but instead of getting fatter, he would just be getting more muscular (building muscles is another topic, once again, that does relate, but isn't part of your question).

The reason for the last couple of paragraphs is just so that you don't become worried that if you move around a lot you will become bulky or more muscular. You will only have as many muscles as you are telling your body you need on a daily basis.

I hope that was good enough to start out with. If you ever need any more information on the topics of dieting, exercising, or eating healthy, feel free to contact me. I have an abundance of wealth on this subject (thank you mom!) and would be glad to share it all with you (or anyone else for that matter).
 
Oh wow! Thanks for that OmniscientOnus!

That makes alot of sense and know I understand why people yo-yo with their weight, thats me. I do my walking as much as I can and take the stairs instead of lifts or esclators. Im drinking a smoothie as I type this! I also made myself some tuna and sweetcorn, so Im getting that freshness!

Hopefully I'll lose some weight soon. I know its not an overnight process, takes dedication and ahrd work. Plus Ive just got a job in a supermarket, so not only will I get discount on frsh food, but I'll be walking around and getting out more!
 
Eating right is a very good way to lose weight and to maintain a healthy one.

Also exercise is good. Stomach crunches are a very good way to flatten your stomach. If you can, buy or rent one of those exercise videos and they will show you some good ways to do them.

Jumping rope is also very good. And anything to get your heart pounding.

It may also be a good idea to see your doctor just to see what he says about your weight. You want to make sure that you don't get too skinny or that you aren't already.
 
What works for me is to find a sport or exercise activity that you might grow to like. I used to be limited to walking until I learned to rollerblade on my own, and now I enjoy it and do it as frequently as possible. This might actually be a nice way to motivate yourself to exercise because you don't have to force yourself to exercise or treat it like it's work or some chore you don't want to do--it will just become something you enjoy doing for fun as well.
 
I did it like this i eat a good Breadfast then for lunch something small but healthy.The last time i eat something is about 07.00 in the afternoon and then nothing mayby a Apple but thats it.
Well i've got the problem that i'm never so real Hungry,so i eat like a small kid.
so i'm still 45-48 kilo.
 
Well... Since Onus has pretty much pwned this thread, I'm not sure if my advice will be worthy, but I'll give it a shot.

My advice is to just eat healthy stuff, like salads and stuff. I'm also pretty sure drinking lots and lots of water is real healthy, but dont quote me on that.
 
Eat two packs of Ramen a day and do fun stuff all day.
 
I think the basic, important theme of weight control is knowing it can be done, and that it takes a lifestyle change.

Sure there's the odd sliver of 1% of the population that has a gigantic tumor or something but as the probability and statistics suggest that is not you. Whoever you are, whatever your weight issue (mine for instance is putting on weight), it can be controlled and fixed.

The problem is, you can't loose weight by stuffing food down your face and watching tv all day. In my case I can't gain weight by doing strenuous work or exercise 10 hours a day and only getting in 1 meal. Does not work.

Sure there are real suggestions and real science to this. But none of the wisdom or facts in the world will help if you haven't the willpower to change your life.

In point of fact most people are fat because they are spiritual failures. If they had the inner strength, that would be reflected in their physical person. Even a jolly fat person is enjoyable to be around.
 
Some people like to blame their metabolism by saying they have diabetes or some other stupid excuse. But this only applies to you if you have type 1 diabetes. For the rest of you who have type 2, shame on you.
 
If you realy whant to lose weight than you will,because you realy whant to,you need to start in your mind and than you can move to your body.
You need to start eating very healthy food not lots of but many times a day a bit.The moment your bored and you think you are hungry try doing something else,clean your room,go for a nice walk,go to run or something like that.After you've done this eat any kind of fruit with has got many Vitamins and makes you feel nice and good.
 
Avin said:
Well... Since Onus has pretty much pwned this thread, I'm not sure if my advice will be worthy, but I'll give it a shot.

My advice is to just eat healthy stuff, like salads and stuff. I'm also pretty sure drinking lots and lots of water is real healthy, but dont quote me on that.
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First of all, thank you! I do have quite an extensive knowledge on weight loss, gain, and overall health (once again, thank you mom!).

Second, everyone's advice is worthy.

Third, drinking water is very healthy. However, if you drink too much (we're probably looking at gallons a day, check the web for an exact amount) you can actually urinate out too many electrolytes that your body needs. Electrolytes, in a very very basic definition, allow your body to create electronic links within itself. Again, I'm lazy today, so check the web if you want a good definition of electrolytes. Sorry to quote you on that ^_^.

Last, salads can be healthy for you. Lettuce, being mostly water, is neutral. Technically it's good for you, but it doesn't really add any nutrients to the table, but it does make for a terrific filler if you're hungry and don't want to fatten up with snacks. All in all, it comes down to what exactly you put in your salad. Most dressings are fattening, but are alright in small amounts. If you keep your salads to mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, you're looking at a terrific meal that you can eat all day long. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who likes to pile on the eggs, meats, cheeses, pizza, steaks, butter, lard, potato chips, whatever, then obviously you aren't eating a healthy meal anymore.
 
Well thnks to recent studies in australia most kids in australia were obese and now because of that in about every school we have daily exercise for about 1 hour ;) and now in gym we do were exercise like jogging and running because im the same i got a little extra baggage but now i lost that ;) so my advice to you is just eat right and exercise wen ever you can :)
 
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Ok take it from me when i say losing weight is not that hard ( I do it ever day for wrestling) all you really have to do is drink alot of water, Which flushes out your system, it Alot of greens, they clear out your inners, and run for a least 10 min a day thats all... I have cuted 7 pound for a match in one day, but i ran alllllll flipin day tho and i dont support you doing this
 
Hmmm my advice is to not drink sodas or juices at ALL.
I drink nothing but water, and it works wonders to keep some unecissary pounds off.

You take your body weight and multiply it by .70...and that's how many ounces of water you should drink each day. =]
 
you can drink too much water but its like when you start getting towards 10 litres a day which is like too much. if found that you dont lose weight but mass (as your body converts fat into muscle and muscle actually weighs more but is more compact) eating small meals reguarly (like every 3-4 hrs) with at least 1/2hr exercise per day should help burn those fat cells and yeah cut back on the sugery snacks and tho juice is alright (assuming there isnt any added sugar) dont go over board like max i surving of juice a day (eg a glass or a small bottle, like the ones you would buy at the refec. at uni) plus make sure you do eat from all the food groups according to the prymid (dont seriosuly cut back on the meats or diary cause you'll miss out on alot of good vit & minerals - unless of course your a vego or its against your religion or something, but even then you have to replace them with outher types of food that have those vits and minerals like legumes.
(sorry about bad grammer, i tend to go off on tangems (sp?)
 
There's a new exercising theory that is having good results, and from what I've studied in anatomy, it all makes sense.

The theory is that cardio workouts should be avoided, and the time you would have spent on cardio should be spent on weight training. Weight training builds muscle, and muscle requires energy to keep fueled, which keeps your metabolism at a high rate. The end result is that your body burns a lot of energy, and you look good!

If you ever go to a gym, the people doing cardio never like it, and the people doing weight training seem to enjoy it. The weight training people are generally thinner as well. Of course, no cardio means that the romantics of working out are abolished, and I cannot deal with that. Simply find a happy medium between the two, or go with only weight training if you wish to fully follow the theory.
 
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned gastroplasty, which is a perfectly reasonable option if all else fails. Frankly, the "eat healthy/exercise more" routine does NOT work for everyone, and when diets are not working either, surgery doesn't seem so "out there". Of course, I would never do it (being a guy without any fear of being overweight), but if I was truly serious about losing weight, I would consider it.
 
The theory is that cardio workouts should be avoided, and the time you would have spent on cardio should be spent on weight training. Weight training builds muscle, and muscle requires energy to keep fueled, which keeps your metabolism at a high rate. The end result is that your body burns a lot of energy, and you look good!
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This would work out very well, but is flawed in few respects.

First, and most importantly, cardio exercises give the HEART, your most vital muscle, the workout it most desperately needs. Without cardio workouts, your heart can become weak, even if you're ripped everywhere else.

Second, even tiny girls who don't quickly gain muscle mass can begin to look a bit too toned, or muscular, from pure weight training. Low weight with lots of reps is a good way around this, but then you're not building the muscle as much, and therefore defeating the whole purpose of the workout. Essentially, that form of exercise is really only beneficial if you want to have lots of muscle, and most chicks aren't into being that muscular (thank god).


In essence, don't stop doing cardio. It's a decent theory, but not a very well thought out one. It would basically only work for men, and even then it would bypass the heart, which almost defeats the purpose of being physically fit. It's all fine and dandy to have great tone and definition, but what good does it do you if you keel over at 30 from clogged arteries?

Also, something important that I haven't seen come up in this thread is that no matter how well you look, how toned you are, or how physically fit you are, you have to take into consideration what you are doing to yourself internally as well as externally. Just because you may be thin, or have a good physique, or are in a physical state that pleases you, doesn't necessarily mean that your internally healthy. People, especially those looking to bulk up for sporting (or any other various activities that go by weight) issues or the like should not be eating fatty foods to gain mass. It will only ruin you. Stay in the weight class that nature gives you when you eat a healthy amount (yes, even too many fruits and vegetables can be unhealthy when consumed en mass) and exercise a proper amount. Too much of anything is going to kill you early.

EDIT:
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned gastroplasty, which is a perfectly reasonable option if all else fails. Frankly, the "eat healthy/exercise more" routine does NOT work for everyone, and when diets are not working either, surgery doesn't seem so "out there". Of course, I would never do it (being a guy without any fear of being overweight), but if I was truly serious about losing weight, I would consider it.
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This is a false statement. No surgery, including gastroplasty, that involves surgically helping you lose weight is ever necessary. If you're eating right and exercising properly you will lose weight. If you don't, either you're not doing something right (either you're cheating, following a poor diet plan, or are making some unknown mistakes), or you're not waiting long enough to allow your metabolism to change.

Your body works the way it does for a reason. It may be true that a handful of people out of millions will have a serious malfunction and will not lose weight no matter what, but these people are so rare that it should not be public knowledge. Telling people this will only spur them on to believe that they are one when the odds overwhelmingly suggest that they are just doing something wrong. If you're not losing weight, and you haven't been doing anything wrong (to your knowledge) see a health instructor. They should be able to guide you in the right direction and show you your mistakes. If they can't find a different one.

Most importantly, don't lie to them, or yourself. If you're not losing weight, there's an issue beyond your chemical makeup that is affecting it. If you manage to stump everyone (and are being completely honest) then consult a physician about possible surgical solutions. However, always keep in mind that these surgeries often lead to gaining more weight than you had to begin with, and are dangerous. Unless it is absolutely dire that you have the surgery, and there is no other option, than don't even consider it. It's just not the proper way, and is most likely not going to do any good in the long run. Most people gain back their entire old weight within the first year after surgery!

Eat right, exercise, and don't follow these silly new age, new technology bullshit that claims that you can lose weight quickly or easily. They just don't work; ever. The food pyramid, and a proper exercise routine including both cardio and weight training exercises are the only way to properly lose weight. If you're doing something else, even if you're losing weight, you are harming your body on one level or another.

Don't believe me? Go ahead, give me any example other than the one I gave (eating right and exercising) and I will gladly point out the flaws. There's just no way around working hard and motivating yourself... not when it comes to weight loss at least.
 
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